


For a Good Time Call

by Regency



Category: Holby City
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, F/F, Phone Sex, Secret Identity, Sex Work
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-14
Updated: 2018-12-14
Packaged: 2019-09-18 06:53:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16990140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Regency/pseuds/Regency
Summary: AU.  In a universe where Edward was as good at hiding his money as he was at racking up debt, Serena moonlights as a part-time phone sex worker, and Bernie is married and closeted but painfully curious.





	For a Good Time Call

It’s a truth universally acknowledged, at least through the whole of Holby City Hospital proper, that Serena Campbell has a voice made for sex. Less known is how she uses it.

Seventeen years after her philandering husband left her high and dry with all his debts to her name and a daughter to feed, Serena is well into her dual career as a part-time phone sex worker and a successful full-time vascular consultant at Holby City Hospital.  Edward’s debts long paid and Elinor gone to university, Serena does the first out of habit. She has her regular clients and her colleagues and her friends. It’s her secret life outside of theater and the boardroom. It keeps her house from being empty when there’s no one there to share it.  Her second career, however, that one she does out of love.  Saving lives is an art and Serena’s deepest passion. She took up phone sex when Edward left and vanished with the bulk of their combined assets so she would never have to give surgery up. Serena’s learned plenty and regrets nothing.

Well, all right, one thing.

On the last night of her career in sex, Serena meets her match. Her white whale. Her  _darling_. The client whose dulcet tones and trembling voice convince her it’s time to surrender the night shift once and for all.

Serena never even gets her name.

 

* * *

 

The receptionist puts through Serena’s final caller of the night. A woman near Serena’s age according to the sparse client profile she’s been provided.

“Sera Kissmore speaking. Who may I ask is calling?”

“Um. I’d rather not give my name if that’s all right.”

“That’s more than all right.”  Serena has catered to more than her fair share of women. She's comfortable serving women. It's rare they'll ask for something they wouldn't give. It's even rarer for women to stay on the line long enough to get what they need.  “How are you tonight, darling?” Serena decides to start with the soft sell. This has the benefit of padding the call time on the off-chance the main event doesn't last long. Serena will get her commission one way or another.

"I'm all right. I--I've never done this." Plain as day.  Serena could make a killing as a phone psychic; most people don't realize how much they say without saying anything at all.

"Then we'll have a first together."

"Have you, erm, been with a woman?"

"I've had the pleasure, but I've never had the pleasure of your company before. Why don't we chat a little?"

"Okay."

"What shall I call you?  It doesn’t have to be your name, but I can't keep calling you darling all night."

"I would like that, actually. Nobody calls me things like that here. They think I don't like it. Think it's, erm, too soft."

Serena plays with her necklace. "Oh, darling, we all need a bit of soft, don't we?"

"I don't know what I'm doing. I just saw the ad online and called. I...I shouldn't have called." She's panicking. She's going to hang up, Serena's sure of it.

"Hang on, darling. Just hang in there. Are you alone?" There's a momentary lapse.

"Yes."

"Door locked?"

"There's nobody in the house but me."

"Good. You're safe with me. I won't tell a soul. I don't know anything about you, won't know anything you don't want me to know. Let me take care of you tonight."

Her caller swallows audibly. "I want...um."

Serena waits patiently. This caller needs her to listen. The listening and companionship are part of the fantasy. Being heard and adored, it's addictive in a way. Not having to be so alone in the world.

"I've been married for years, but I've recently discovered I may be more attracted to women than I realized." Her breath leaves her in a rush. "I may be...exclusively attracted to women. I'm, I'm married to a man, so you can see the conflict."

Serena waits her out. Doesn't fill the line with useless platitudes and effusive non-judgment. Her caller wants to be heard, not coddled. Should that change, so will Serena's approach.

"So that's why I'm calling. I want to be sure. Maybe I'm wrong." That isn't why she's calling. She wouldn't be risking an incriminating charge on her credit card bill just to check when she could ogle a woman in a department store to see if the thought of going down on her made her wet.

"You aren't wrong. It’s good to be sure. How can I help?”

“I’ve never been to bed with a woman before. I’ve thought about it, one in particular. She’s…She looks at me sometimes and I don’t know.  I don’t know what I want.”

“You want her.”

“I think I do, yes.”

“Do you want me to be her?”

“No, it wouldn’t be...That would be too far.”

Serena stretches out on her bed, snuggles into her nest of fluffy pillows to make herself comfortable. She's going to take her caller through it if she allows. "Tell me what you want. What can I give you?"

"I was having a lie-in and imagining a woman next to me.  Some other woman. It was... "

“Bliss?”

“Yes.”  Her voice breaks and the longing in it skewers Serena. How long has her caller lived wanting this?

"Tell me about your ideal woman? What's she look like?"

"Would you believe I don't really have a preference? I just...want her. She would be soft, maybe. I--I don't know." Softer than her, or softer than anybody perceives her.

"Would she call you darling?"

"I wish she would."

"If I were with you, what would we do?"

Her voice shakes when she speaks, "I would lean over and kiss you."

"I'd like that. I bet you give a good kiss."

"I could kiss you for hours."

"I'd let you. Darling, you could kiss me till the world ends and I wouldn't mind. Would you touch me while you kissed me? Could I touch you?"

"Yes, please, anywhere."

Serena thinks carefully. She's built a picture of this woman in her mind. A hard reputation that hides a need for tenderness. A husband who doesn't see the value in it. A copper, perhaps a soldier. She could be anything. Fit, probably. Serena decides she must be beautiful; she has a beautiful voice and that will decide it.

"Could I undress you? Would you strip for me?" There's a rustling of fabric that Serena envisions as her caller shedding her outer layers. She imagines her caller as all limbs. She's always liked her loves on the tall side, athletic and strong. That's how she'll like this one, too, in her mind.

"I'm not wearing anything."

"Do you want to know what I'm wearing?"

"Yes, I...yes."

"I like lingerie. The pieces I’m wearing tonight are deep plum, almost black. The color of good red wine. It compliments my skin. It's short and sheer." Serena rakes her nails up her thigh, draws whirls along the sliver of bare flesh at the top of her stockings. "I'm wearing suspenders and nylons. They feel good. I wish you were touching me where I'm touching myself."

Her caller whimpers, "Please."

Serena decides to her back to the beginning, wants to reel her darling in slow and steady. "If we were together, I wouldn't stop kissing you. From the moment I set foot in the door, I'd have your lips on mine. My first taste of you and I'd be addicted. Forget dinner, I'd want you in bed after our first kiss."

"I want you here now."

"I am there, darling. Close your eyes."

Her caller hesitates, Serena hears that hesitation. She's afraid to give over to the fantasy.

"Don't be frightened. I'm here with you. Close your eyes and  _feel_  me. Feel my lips on yours, my breath on your skin." She blows lightly down the line. Her callers gasps, scarcely audibly. "I'm as real as you."

Serena traces her own lips, imagines she can feel another pair part beneath hers. Are her caller's lips full or thin? Chapped or soft? Serena fills in the blanks with soft, stern lips. Does her caller smile easily? Somehow Serena doesn't think so.

"Sera?"

"Shh, let me kiss you. I couldn't stop at just one. I'd touch your face, run my fingers over your cheeks. Can you feel me?"

"Yes," she says, breathless.

"My lip on your jaw. Does that feel good?"

"Yes."

"Are you sensitive there, darling? Where else?"

"My, my neck. Ears."

"Then, that's where I'll kiss you. You're a treat, aren't you? I'd nibble you all over. Drag my lips down your neck to the spot you like. You know the spot, don't you?" Her caller whines. Serena can sense her squirming. Necks are a good bet anytime, most people are sensitive there. The perfect caress, the application of teeth can turn the willing into putty. "You're gorgeous like this. All that skin. Let me kiss you everywhere. The marks I'd leave on you if let me. You'd have to hide them under your clothes. You couldn't let anybody else see. Could I?"

"Yes. I wouldn't--they'd just be for us. Please, Sera." How could Serena resist her pleading like that? She can’t, it would be impolite.

"I'd run my hands over your shoulders and chest. Do you have freckles, darling? I'd taste every one with my tongue."

Her caller gulps. "I’ve moles on my neck, my back; and freckles.” She laughs to disguise her self-consciousness.  “I'm all spotty."

"All the more for me to adore. You're so beautiful. You don't hear that enough."

"I'm... thank you."

"I'd kiss you again. You're turning red."

"It's the heat," her caller volleys, saving her blushes in name only.

"You're beautiful and I want you and you're all mine."

"I'm all yours."

Her caller is softening, yielding to treatment. The danger zone has passed, Serena has her now. Serena wants her now. For once in her storied career in phone sex, she wishes she worked face to face.

"I'm kissing my way down your chest. You're so soft here. Your hands are in my hair. You know where you want me, don't you?"

"Yes. Is your hair...? How is it?"

"How do you want it?"

"Like you."

"Short. Dark. You can touch me. Touch me."

"My breasts are sensitive and it feels good when..." She bites back what she wants again.

"Don't hide from me. It's just us here. Just you and me. Let me give you what you need." Serena runs her hands over her own breasts, imagines this woman's. Are they full like her own or smaller? Would they fit in her hands? "I nuzzle my way to your breasts. Kiss them one at a time. I trace a circle around each nipple till they pucker under my fingers." Another whimper. A rustle of fabric, of sheets. "You're so lovely."

"I like that, don't stop."

"The compliments or...?"

"Yes."

"I take the first into my mouth. Lap over and around it with my tongue. Suck hard and deep until your back arches off the bed." The headboard, Serena thinks it's a headboard, bangs against the wall.

"Fuck."

"I roll the other between my fingers. Tease it ever so gently with the edge of my nails. Twist it just so." Her caller's breathing goes ragged. "Your hand had better not be in your knickers, darling, or I'm going to be very cross. That's my territory."

Another stifled cry. "Please, Sera. I need...I can't wait."

"Play with your nipples for me. Give yourself what I would give you. Go on. Let me hear how you like it." Her caller pants down the line for a long moment before she plucks up the nerve to comply. "Tell me what you're doing."

"My hands are on my breasts. They're, erm, not much to write home about, I'm afraid."

"I have to disagree. I can't wait to have my mouth on them again."

"God, yes, please, I'm stroking them. My nipples are, um, hard. When I run my thumbs over them, I feel it down to my...I feel it deeply." Not used to dirty talk, yet aching to learn.

"You like that."

"And the twisting. I could come from that alone, it feel like, like...I've always been tender. I'm all nerves there. Small breasts, more exposed nerve endings."

"I'll remember." Serena rubs a thumb over her own nipples to soothe the ache. She needs to keep pace with her stranger. Her stranger needs this more than she does.

"I'm not wearing any knickers," her caller reminds her, almost shyly.

"Now I remember." Serena traces the waistband of her own underwear. What she wouldn't do for someone to scratch the ache building between her legs. It's not as much fun doing it herself, though this call has its perks. "Spread your legs for me, darling."

"...Okay."

"Don't worry, I'll go slow." Serena dips a hand into her knickers to stoke her own fire and keep the game going. She combs her fingers through the hair there and sighs. "My hands are running up and down your sides. Not enough to tickle you, just enough."

"I like that."

"Good, good, darling. I'm kissing my way down your stomach." There's a slight titter. "Something funny?"

"No, I can just. I'm ticklish. I...Sorry."

"No, I like it. I like you laughing. Mean’s we're having fun."

Her caller sighs. "I like this."

"Good. Let me give you more." Serena envisions long legs spread beneath her, wide enough so that she lies comfortably between. Her caller is reclined on pillows like Serena, head thrown back, eyes shut, her breasts in hand. Her body is different from Serena's. Svelte and neatly-kempt. Call it a feeling. "I'm kissing you again. Down your abdomen, below your belly button. Wet kisses down past your waist." She inhales deeply, groans remembering the mouth-watering aroma of a woman aroused and aching for her mouth.

"Sera...Sera, don't stop." She's urgent and Serena knows her caller hasn't obeyed her, pictures her spread open, fingers pumping frantically in and out of her, a thumb whetting her swollen clit. She just needs Serena to push her over. She needs Serena's voice, Serena's imagination, Serena's words to make it perfect.

Serena dips her fingers lower to find herself slick and dripping. It's the voice. Serena loves a voice gone rough with pleasure and her caller's is gravel in her ear. She closes her eyes, lets imagination run. It's autopilot from here. She circles her clit, shivers. The foreplay's left her on the edge over hypersensitivity. Her caller squirms; she's holding back, waiting for Serena to give her more.

"You taste incredible, darling. I did say you were a treat, didn't I?" Her caller laughs, an absurd honking she stifles that Serena won't have occasion to forget. "I could do this for hours, drag the tip of my tongue down your cunt and up again." Her breath sputters on the line. The moaning starts again and with it the motion of Serena's fingers. She rubs the pad of her fingers along the side of her clit where sensation is strongest. Enough, not too much. The fire inside begins to burn low and then higher. "I run the flat of my tongue over your clit till you twitch and I have to hold you down." Her caller moans her name. The only name she knows. "You bury your hands in my hair. Is this where you want me?"

Her caller sighs, murmurs her approval. Her bed springs groan in a telling rhythm. Serena skips the pretense to dip one finger inside herself and then two. She's dripping, fluttering around the intrusion as pleasure flutters in her belly, sweet aftershocks turning into the promise of pleasure. She curls her fingers and rolls her hips. Her breath catches as she hits that delicious spot inside her and it's her turn to moan. She won't last long after the night she's had, but what a finale it's shaping up to be.

"What do you want, darling? Let me give it to you."

"More."

"My fingers twisting inside you. My mouth on your clit. Sucking. Flicking my tongue over you, around you." The headboard thuds again. Neither pays it any mind.

"Harder. Sera, please."

"Come on, darling. You're driving, take it like you want it. Fuck yourself for me."

"Oh god, yes." Her voice breaks against, pleasure urging her on instead of shame. Serena takes her own advice. Rubs feverishly at her clit while plunging fingers between her spread thighs, her panties shoved down around her nylon-clad knees. The scent of sex filling the air only makes the fiction of her and her caller more real. The slick noises of fingers working at her sex. Her pert nipples; she imagines her caller mouthing them, groaning at the taste of her skin the way Serena would for her. They could be so good, make each other feel incredible if only they could touch. This is how they can.

Her caller begins to gasp, soft and urgent, everything held back but saying so much. Then, "yes yes yes" again. The bed springs sing. Serena sees her in her mind's eyes, a grimace of a smile painted on her face as she works herself to climax. She's gorgeous and softer than anybody lets her be; she needs to be touched and in this small way she's let Serena be the first woman to do it. So attuned is Serena to her caller's progress, her own catches her off guard. Seizes her up tight, steals her breath. Washes over her in one beautiful wave of pleasure and endorphins that goes on and on and on till it lets her go and she falls back onto her pillows, shaking. "Christ."

Her caller is panting like a racehorse on the line, the breathing pattern of the deliciously wrung out and sated. Serena wipes her fingers on her thigh, throws an arm over her eyes. She feels especially vulnerable after getting off with a client. That isn't how she usually does things.

"All right, darling?"

"I'm all right." And she sounds it. That little bit steadier in herself. She knows what she's about now, what she likes. She likes women. She likes Serena. The pleasure of the moment drains away leaving two women with nothing to bind them but an illicit phone call. Her stranger spooks, frightened by the force of her pleasure at a woman's imagined touch and what it means about her life. "I...I have to go."

"Goodbye, darling."

She doesn't receive an answer.

 

* * *

 

Serena is years from the nights she spent working the phones to fill the empty hours, but she’d know that voice anywhere.

“Engine been growling or whining?”

Let the games begin again.

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on Tumblr [here](http://sententiousandbellicose.tumblr.com/post/181113857940/fic-for-a-good-time-call-berena).
> 
> I may add another chapter to it set after they begin working together later on, but I think it works fine as is.


End file.
